macOS Tahoe 26.2 Gets Edge Light Feature for Video Calls

[MacRumors]

The second beta of macOS 26.2 introduces a new Edge Light feature that's designed for video calls on FaceTime and other video calling platforms. It adds a light border around the edges of your Mac's display, providing improved lighting. Apple says that it is meant to help you look your best on video calls.

Edge Light mimics a ring light, eliminating the need for a separate device. It can provide illumination when you're in a dark room, and customize the light to match the brightness of the ambient lighting.

The Mac's Apple Neural Engine is able to detect your face, relative size, and location in the video frame to position the light appropriately, and it will fade out to allow you to access content on your screen when needed by detecting your mouse cursor. You can adjust the color of the light using a slider that transitions between warm and cool options.

Edge Light can be accessed in the settings of video conferencing apps alongside other options like backgrounds, Portrait mode, Studio Light, and Voice Isolation. The feature is available on Macs that support Apple silicon, and it works with both webcams and external cameras that are connected.

On Macs from 2024 and later, Edge Light can turn on automatically when ambient lighting in the room drops.

Developers can try Edge Light today, and macOS Tahoe 26.2 is set to launch to the public in December.

Article Link: macOS Tahoe 26.2 Gets Edge Light Feature for Video Calls

 

[H. Flower]

This is cool, but Facetime is a mess on Macs.

My colleagues and I usually end up giving up on Facetime and switching to Zoom or Google Meetings.

 

[NoSoup4U]

In retrospect, this feature is an embarrassingly obvious need. But the difficulty was to get it to work auto-magically.

 

[ryanasimov]

Now that's the kind of Apple innovation I appreciate; elegant and subdued.

 

[TracesOfArsenic]

This is cool, but Facetime is a mess on Macs.

My colleagues and I usually end up giving up on Facetime and switching to Zoom or Google Meetings.

hahaha it's so true isn't it. This is like putting lipstick on a pig. Don't get me wrong, it's a pretty shade of lipstick but it's still a pig.

 

[novagamer]

This is really smart, I'm curious if you have an XDR does it use HDR for the ring? Seems like a good use case to blast the brightness a bit above 600 nits.

 

[citysnaps]

My colleagues and I usually end up giving up on Facetime and switching to Zoom or Google Meetings.

I use FaceTime all the time. Zero issues.

It just works.

 

[ikramerica]

hahaha it's so true isn't it. This is like putting lipstick on a pig. Don't get me wrong, it's a pretty shade of lipstick but it's still a pig.

Maybe they can make it work independently of the chat platform. There really isn’t any reason not to have it work that way. The AI isn’t actually talking to facetime, it’s all local just analyzing the room and the subject and making adjustments.

 

[n-evo]

Heh that’s actually pretty cool!

 

[H. Flower]

I use FaceTime all the time. Zero issues.

On Macs? With various people with mutliple apple devices like Ipads and Iphones on different OS's? With screensharing?

 

[n-evo]

Maybe they can make it work independently of the chat platform.

The article literally says it does:

The second beta of macOS 26.2 introduces a new Edge Light feature that's designed for video calls on FaceTime and other video calling platforms

You can probably just trigger it from the menu bar whenever your camera is active.

 

[Reeneman]

Eyes getting f…ed but hey you looked good in the call 😀

 

[litmag01]

I guess Apple is a trillion dollar company and they should be able to simultaneously add features to the OS while also fixing the laundry list of issues withOS 26. Right?

Clearly the c-suite at Apple heard A LOT of customers asking for this.

 

[zachz]

This is cool, but Facetime is a mess on Macs.

My colleagues and I usually end up giving up on Facetime and switching to Zoom or Google Meetings.

Same here, and macOS/iOS 26 made FaceTime even more unusable. Half the time I call, it goes into the "calling" screen but doesn't actually call, so I have to initiate it on my iPhone or iPad first then handoff. But of course, handoff usually works half the time, and restarting never fixes it. When it does work, it works great, but it seems now with every update it's less and less which is a shame because it's such a core feature.

Zoom/Teams (never used Google Meetings) have had 0 issues between work, school, personal appointments since I first started using it during COVID 5 years ago.

 

[960design]

It adds a light border around the edges of your Mac's display....

Curious, does it do the same around my Studio Display ( or just MacBook Pro? iMac? ).

 

[amancalledsun]

Curious, does it do the same around my Studio Display ( or just MacBook Pro? iMac? ).

Curious if it works with any 3rd party monitors for those of us using minis, studios, etc.

 

[MacAttack2024]

bring this to iPhones and iPads asap

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

This is cool, but Facetime is a mess on Macs.

My colleagues and I usually end up giving up on Facetime and switching to Zoom or Google Meetings.

hahaha it's so true isn't it. This is like putting lipstick on a pig. Don't get me wrong, it's a pretty shade of lipstick but it's still a pig.

This feature isn’t limited to just FaceTime, it’s available whenever your WebCam is active on macOS.

 

[digitalfx]

it does work on Studio Display as well, but the lighting improvement is marginal at best. It needs to be alot brighter

 

[diddl14]

Why not just use Ai to fix the lighting in the captured image in real-time? Or did they tried that and this was plan B?

 

[Artemiz]

Why not just use Ai to fix the lighting in the captured image in real-time? Or did they tried that and this was plan B?

Stop saying AI like it's the answer to everything.

 

[interstella]

It's going to take more than a bit of light to make me look good in videos.

 

[p.willis]

Why not just use Ai to fix the lighting in the captured image in real-time? Or did they tried that and this was plan B?

image processing always works best with more light.
beats any AI or manual adjustment.

 

[SeaFox]

Edge Light + new OLED Macbooks = lots of screen replacement business for Genius Bars.

 

[swrobel]

Can’t possibly imagine why the ambient light detection feature is limited to 2024 & later Macs given these sensors have been on them for ages. Could it be more Tim Apple planned obsolescence? 🤔